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This is round two of posting these pictures. It would not work, for some reason, yesterday!! Only the web address would show up?!

Here are pictures from Caleb’s birthday! I cannot believe my little boy is turning 2 on Monday. As cliche as it sounds, the time has just flown by. It makes my heart sad to know he is growing so fast, but it is so joyous to see him change and grow and just get sweeter and cuter every day!

Caleb’s two cousins also turn 2 this month (in February….Caleb’s b-day is in March, but they were all born within a month of each other!). We all celebrated together!

The birthday party was at a gymnastics place. Here are all the birthday goers:

Lylia and Caleb having fun on the parachute (he would not go without her):

After the party, my parents’ Chinese friends cooked us an authentic meal. It was delicious. The best thing, in my opinion, was a cabbage dish they made. I know cabbage gives babies gas, so I only ate a little. But I could have eaten the entire entree!! It was delicious!

The 2-year olds at the restaurant:

This is not from the weekend, but I thought it was hilarious. Caleb likes to accessorize with hats and glasses.

A lot has happened in the pasty eight days since my last post. That is partly why I have not posted, but now I feel like there is so much to post.

I will start with Oprah. I hardly watch Oprah, but I happened to catch it last week. She had a guy on there teaching women who look frumpy how to improve. I am guilty of people a “schlumpadinka” (as Oprah put it). Because I do what moms of young kids do (change diapers, get spit up on, clean, etc.), I often resort to wearing comfy clothes that do not really look that great.
However, as of late, I have really been feeling like I could do little things to improve my overall appearance (which, as you probably know, also effects a lot of other aspects of life). I really took to heart some of the advice…..well, except that the only red trench coat I could find was like $80. I have to wait for them to go on sale. As my mom’s personal shopper, she also wants one.
Today, I decided to improve myself a bit to go to MOPS. The biggest improvement: I wore some trendy jeans that my friend gave me. I did not know how to wear them correctly (and my sister was not up to ask), so I tried to remember how my friend, Amber, would wear them. I was a bit nervous, but it worked out. I also wore a little extra make-up and fixed my hair (just a ponytail, but its a high ponytail, which supposedly looks nicer). I did few other things, but those are the main things.
I am telling you I received more compliments today than I have in a really long time (maybe three years ago…..which happens to be my wedding day….my anniversary is tomorrow! YAY!!).
Moral to the story: A few extra minutes in the morning does wonders!!!! I do not have enough cute clothes to wear something trendy and fun every day, but I am committed to only buying things (when I do buy things) that improve my wardrobe.

(That story was longer than expected)

We celebrated Caleb’s 2nd birthday this past weekend…..with my two nieces. I will post pictures soon. We went down to where my nieces and parents live. They all turn 2 within a month, so its fun to do the joint birthday party thing. It was a really quick trip: we had bad winter weather on the way down and on the way back home. No fun. I felt like it was a really rushed visit, but I had a great time.
I highlighted my hair blonde again. Its not as light as I wanted, but I guess it takes time to get back to where I want to be.
Back to the party….we had it at a gymnastics facility. It was a really great time! Caleb LOVED playing on all of the equipment. It was a junior gym, so everything was small for him. He loves life, and it was so fun watching him play and laugh.

(That story was shorter than expected)

At MOPS today, we had a wonderful speaker come talk to us about making your own household cleaning products. I have been wanting to do that for quite some time, and now I am definitely inspired!! I made some homemade baby wipes tonight. Its WAY cheaper and so much fun. I plan to use up what cleaning supplies I have now, as part of my “don’t be wasteful” way of life. It will take quite a long time, but once it is all gone, I am making my own! I have a lot of baby wipes, but I figure I will use the store bought ones when I am out of the house.

I spent the evening getting my house restored to order. We have just been so busy lately. Thankfully, none of us have been sick. I know there is some nasty flu and bugs going around, so I am thankful we are healthy (and I hope to remain that way). In addition to going out of town, Brett preached at church on Sunday in a town about an hour away. He did awesome! It was just a long (but fun) day. Everything else that has been keeping me busy has been random stuff. However, when I get busy, things just seem to fall apart on the homefront. So I needed to clean and organize a bit tonight. It was not terrible. Just not what I like my house to feel/look like.

Have a wonderful week! I will be celebrating my 3rd anniversary with my awesome husband tomorrow. The time has gone by SO fast. It does not seem like we have been married that long, yet I feel like I have known Brett my whole life.

On our wedding day…..

And Brett and I recently (I have highlights now, so it is not officially “us today”):
(whoa that’s really big, sorry!)

It is Snowing. Again.

It is snowing again. Brett went to church. He was preaching today, and he helps set up…..so he went earlier than I usually go. He called to tell me to stay home because the roads were not cleared yet. Its just too risky with the little ones. It was a pretty boring morning, but it was pretty relaxing. Our church is small. Its a fairly new church. There are nine children. Of those nine children, my sweet Lulu (aka Chloe) is the only girl. Two of my friends who go to our church are also pregnant. One girl is not finding out what she is having. The other girl just found out this week she is having a boy. I am very excited for them!! So now the count is 10 boys. My sweet girl. Good thing Brett owns a lot of guns. Although I do think my other friend is having a girl. So hopefully that will make the count 10 boys. Two sweet girls. Of course, if Caleb keeps up his current record of pestering his younger sister, she will be tough. He is so sweet to her and loves her so much. He just does not know how to be gentle. Or that it hurts to have your eyes poked repeatedly throughout the day. Caleb is such a great kid and really is trying to love on his sister! It melts my heart. Having two kids just gets more fun every day. Caleb is just hilarious. He is so observant. When reading a book, he notices the smallest details. When we are out in public, he sits back and watches everyone. Once he is more comfortable, he plays. I love that about him. Chloe is a very active infant. She kicks her legs constantly and rolls over a lot. However, she hates being on her stomach. So she screams when she’s been on her tummy too long (even though she can roll back over). She laughs all the time. She is total extrovert. When I hold her, she has to face out to see the people. We watched our friend’s son last night, who is just a few weeks younger than Caleb. No lie: they laughed with each other for like 2 hours straight. It was pure entertainment watching them interact. We have been friends (with the parents) since before either of us ever had kids, so it is so fun to see our children grow up together. They just started playing and interacting together recently. They get along really well, and the parents raise their kids similarly to us. Its really great to have friends like that. Well, domestic chores, such as planning meals for the week, are calling my name!

On Friday, I became my mom’s personal shopper. Long story short, she wanted me to pick her up some boots at the mall. I went to many different stores in two different malls. My last stop was Dillards, where I found two pairs of boots that were her size and a third pair that was a little big but were her first choice of boots. I bought all three, because in the good ole US of A, no sale is ever final (well, sometimes).

I got home and tried on the pair that were probably going to be too big for my mom. Lo and behold, they fit me perfectly. Which means they would be huge on my mom. She was very disappointed, so I called the Dillards in her town….and they had the same pair in her size (why she did not go there first is too long of a story to tell). I bought them over the phone, and she and my dad went to pick them up later in the day.

Because of my efforts of locating the perfect winter boot, she let me keep the said boots. So, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you……my beautiful, comfortable new black Michael Kors boots…..originally $250 marked down to $62. My old boots are happily retired (They’ve been tight ever since having kids)……

I had to get them approved my sister (aka my fashion guide). She wrote back, “Are those the Regina boots?” I wanted the same pair but they were out of my size. So, being the personal shopper that I now am (heck, it pays well LOL), I called three Dillards stores but no luck. They are gone. I was tickled that my mom is fashionable enough to pick out the same boots as my NYC high fashion sister!

Two days ago was my big one year anniversary with the xanga domain name. I have been on xanga longer; I just switched names at one point.

In order to celebrate, I thought I might share some recent pictures. They probably look just like last week’s recent pictures….but to a proud mom, they are new and fun!

Another attempt to get a cute picture of the babes together. Caleb loves the camera, but Chloe cannot really move! Well, until Caleb moves out of the way, and she falls over (just onto the couch, so we’re ok):

Chloe is five months old. Here are some photos from that photo shoot:

Some friends came and stayed with us. I have not blogged about that, but it was really fun! Here is their baby, Selah, with Chloe. They enjoyed holding hands!

Caleb making a funny face

Caleb wanting a part of the 5 month photo shoot. He would be 23 months.

My children with me (with no make-up and greasy hair. A mom at her finest, if you will)

It has been a busy week!! Everything has been really fun. It started with our friends, Wayne and Katie, coming to hang out and stay the night. We enjoyed some good coffee, some good conversation, and some good food (Thanks, W & K!!). It was so cute watching our babies play together. They are only a few weeks apart.

Tuesday was errands day (except that it was at night). That is always fun. Brett went with me to get fabric, and he was impressed by how serious women take their fabric. Oh, I also had my college girls’ small group meeting, which is always great.

Wednesday, I went to a sewing party with two friends. And, yes, sewing is a party! I made a make-up bag. Well, actually I messed up a make-up bag, but it is functional.

Brett worked like 16 hours on Wednesday. I was glad the sewing party made the day go by faster! The kids did great, though. They are so awesome!!

Thursday, I met a friend at the mall for our kids to play (there is a play area). We have kids the same ages and have a lot in common. I really enjoyed hanging out with her!

Valentines is pretty low key for us. Our anniversary is soon, so we just stay in and eat dinner at home. I did win an online giveaway that I was really hoping to win, so that is a treat! We did go out and get ice cream after the kids went to bed (well, I went to get it while he stayed home with our sleeping kids).

That is my week, in a nutshell. Busy busy. I am tired. But its been really fun, so no complaints here!!

Have you seen that crescent roll commercial? Where the dad is telling his daughter why a boy at school is picking on her (Its because he is flaky on the outside but soft on the inside)?
Tonight, after seeing that commercial, Brett said, “I will never tell my daughter that a boy is picking on her because he likes her. I will say he’s a butthead (well, his choice word started with an “a”) and does not deserve you. You are worth a guy who is man enough to treat you right.” I think he said a few other things.
I am in love with that man. Oh, he spoke at a high school girls’ conference this weekend. He did an amazing job. Maybe I will blog on that later.

In other news….

The thing I miss most about being pregnant: eating a large amount of chips and salsa and convincing myself that its all going to my baby. Now, its all going to my belly. But there is no baby to blame. Let’s just pretend I am celebrating the fact that the pants I wore to church today I bought in 2003. Which is on one hand sad that I still own pants from 2003, but I am looking at the bright side that two kids later, they still fit.

And let’s also celebrate the fact that my mother-in-law and Granny-in-law sent me money for my birthday. How sweet are they. As much as I love receiving gifts, plain ole money is sometimes a blessing, as well. Both my mother-in-law and my Granny-in-law are good about picking out stuff I like….especially since they know me better. When Brett and I were first together, it was a little more difficult for them, which is to be expected.

I will blog another day what my parents got me for my birthday. It has not arrived yet. And it will require photos. Oh, the suspense!

Its 11:11. I have MOPS in the morning. Woo hoo. That is the highlight of my week!! So I should head to bed. With a full stomach of chips and salsa.

My birthday was really fun! Brett and I went on a date to Carraba’s (which, Still_Groovy, does your son work there? I saw a guy that looked a lot like him!). This next story is not funny at all, but it made for an interesting dinner.

We were enjoying the delightful food that is Carraba’s. Towards the end of our dinner, the lady at the table next to us passed out. She had a nurse and her husband with her, so she must have health problems. I am not joking when I say I thought she had died, and I about panicked. I have never been faced with that situation, and it was really weird. They had to call an ambulance. She came back to, so I think she is ok. The husband and nurse were really calm. I was freaking out (in my mind) more than them! An interesting dinner, to say the least.

This is sort of funny too. Brett laughed (at me, not with me) when I told him, but I thought it was a funny coincidence. My favorite show on Friday nights is “Psych”. Last time was one of the main character’s birthday on the show. So the whole episode was about his birthday celebration! Ok, now that I write it, it sounds stupid. On Jeopardy, they also had a question about James Dean, who shares my birthday.

And now for the best gifts I have ever received….some pictures of my sweet kids…

Chloe’s face is so cute in this. (Sorry I cannot figure out how to resize it?!)

Caleb

Chloe

Not so much liking the kiss?

Cheesing it up!

Chloe looks tall when Caleb bends his legs!

Laughing…

So sweet (and do boys have food on their faces all day? It sure seems that way)

Nothing is sacred in a toddler’s home. This is Caleb’s guitar stand and his microphone. Hope no one needs toilet paper! I just think it is hilarious how he sees that rockers put their guitars on stands, so he came up with this.